Navigating Travel Pay in 2026: Rules & Employer Best Practices

RECORDED TRAINING COURSE

How to compensate employees for the hours they spend traveling on business has become a major concern for payroll departments. Recent changes in federal and state wage-and-hour laws, combined with economic pressures on both employers and employees, can create situations that may invite noncompliance lawsuits, particularly when travel time results in overtime being owed to an employee.

But travel pay isn’t just a concern for the DOL. The IRS also has strict regulations governing when employees can be reimbursed for travel expenses without those payments being considered wages. Does the company use the per diem method to reimburse employees, or does it use an accountable plan? Or is a formal method even required when reimbursing employees for travel expenses?

Session Highlights:

• Travel pay requirements, What you must pay for and why
• Best practices for paying travel pay correctly
• Which employees have to be paid…and when
• Payroll Compliance and travel pay issues keeping wage and hour claims at bay
• What to do when federal and state laws conflict, and handling multiple state conflict issues
• How travel pay affects overtime calculations travel pay differences for exempt and non-exempt employees
• Special circumstances that may require travel payment
• What are per diems
• When travel payments are taxable
• Accountable and nonaccountable plans

Why You Should Attend: 

This webinar discusses the rules and regulations that must be followed when paying employees for travel time. It covers what travel pay is, best practices for handling travel payments, how travel pay affects overtime calculations, and state-level requirements. The webinar also addresses the IRS requirements for taxing travel expenses.

Who Should Attend:

• Payroll Executives/Managers/Administrators/Professionals/Practitioners/Entry Level Personnel
• Human Resources Executives/Managers/Administrators
• Accounting Personnel
• Business Owners/Executive Officers/Operations and Departmental Managers
• Lawmakers
• Attorneys/Legal Professionals
• Any individual or entity that must deal with the complexities and requirements of Payroll compliance issues

Note: You will get access to the Recording link and E-Transcript in your account and at your registered email address.